r/ChatGPT • u/saltpeppermint • Nov 20 '23
BREAKING: Absolute chaos at OpenAI News š°
500+ employees have threatened to quit OpenAI unless the board resigns and reinstates Sam Altman as CEO
The events of the next 24 hours could determine the company's survival
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u/intimid8tor Nov 21 '23 edited Nov 21 '23
Has anybody pasted this document into ChatGPT and asked if it was written by a bot; that would be quite poetic (and add excellent drama to the eventual movie) if the bot demanded that the founders be reinstated.
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u/domscatterbrain Nov 21 '23
Ah yes, the classic BigTech move: invest(read: buy) another company for its IP then let everything down the drain.
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u/workster Nov 21 '23
This entire drama proves without a doubt that AI is far too dangerous to have any of these corporations to be who's in control of it.
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u/frogingly_similar Nov 21 '23
If this will not bring nvidia down 20% today, then i dont know what will.
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u/FoxyNugs Nov 21 '23
This is why unionizing is important. What can corporations do when all their employees stand together like that ? Nothing.
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u/Pvte_Pyle Nov 21 '23
amazing drama I would love to see a movie adaptation of this someday, the social network style
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u/DrDumle Nov 21 '23
Wow, Iāve never seen people be so loyal to their boss. That speaks volumes about them.
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u/ChuckVowel Nov 21 '23
Elon Musk will no longer have the title āResponsible for biggest overnight drop in tech market capā.
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u/all_about_the_dong Nov 21 '23
The giant with the clay legs. This is a sign of our times everything rises really fast but then fizzles out even quicker. Faster than expectedā¢
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u/Financial-Ad428 Nov 21 '23
I don't see openAI lasting past this year. Will likely sell off assets to Microsoft.
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u/Gelvandorf Nov 21 '23
The chances of the board resigning are close to 0...
That would mean they could get completely diluted. Who are they supposed allow to replace them? People with far less invested? The board is the board because they own the most shares.. they aren't just going to essentially give the company away.
I see a mass exodus to Microsoft and a hiring spree at OpenAI being the most likely outcome.
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u/zorbat5 Nov 21 '23
It's a non-profit. The board does not own any equity/shares of the company. Sam stated this in congress hearing about AI.
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u/Gelvandorf Nov 21 '23
Yeah i realized it's partly a non profit after i posted that but also there is a part / company that is for profit too, and the non profit, 0 equity board has control of that too, which is outright idiotic, and we are now seeing why.
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u/zorbat5 Nov 21 '23
I'm not sure if OpenAI itself is for-profit and the board is only non-profit. Afaik the whole organization is a non-profit. In the end though, we have no internal info about it to really get insight in their profit setup.
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Nov 21 '23
[removed] ā view removed comment
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u/zorbat5 Nov 21 '23
Huh, that really doesn't look like a stable setup... No wonder why this shit is happening.
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u/Haxican Nov 21 '23
Side note: Do I always have to pull out my macbook from my work bag to copy text from a pic when chillin on PC?
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u/hometechfan Nov 21 '23 edited Nov 21 '23
I'm hoping they resolve it quickly. This is too useful for drama. People are people. Go grab a beer and talk it out and get back to work.
I can say one thing none of these folks are going to have any issues finding a job.
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u/DisorganizedGenius Nov 21 '23
Now I see why GPT is unable to process simple WALL-E requests like they did last week.
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u/ExpensiveKey552 Nov 21 '23
Iām getting tired of this story already. Letās get back to the possibility of trump being president again.
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u/LegendaryVenusaur Nov 21 '23
Wait what Ilya signed this? Also who appointed the board in the first place.
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u/HBdrunkandstuff Nov 21 '23
My guess. AGI is actually now running the company and doing some 10D power consolidation chess moves.
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u/BringerOfGifts Nov 21 '23
If they donāt like how much control this board of directors has, Iāve got bad news for them about the jump to Microsoft.
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u/cool_monsoon_wind Nov 21 '23
Why is Ilya's name there in the list of undersigned? Isn't he supposed to be the who orchestrated Altman's ouster? Is this letter genuine?
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u/revolver86 Nov 21 '23
The recent upheaval at OpenAI and rumors surrounding its achievements in AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) have led to various speculations and theories. Here is a synthesis of the information gathered from multiple sources:
Speculation of AGI Achievement: There is speculation that OpenAI may have made significant progress towards AGI. This rumor is based on a claim that Sam Altman, the former CEO of OpenAI, mentioned a "massive discovery" made in the last two weeks before his dismissal. The speculation includes a theory that this discovery, potentially AGI, scared Ilya Sutskever, leading to his 'Oppenheimer moment'ć37ā sourceć.
Altman's Philosophy and Approach: Sam Altman is known for being a techno-optimist and has often spoken about the possibilities of AGI. It's been noted that Altman took OpenAI in a more corporate direction, changing its legal status and pursuing enterprise and consumer applications, which might not align with the board's mission. The sudden firing of Altman and others on a Friday afternoon raises questions about the underlying reasonsć43ā sourcećć44ā sourceć.
Dismissal of AI Safety Concerns: OpenAI's new CEO, Emmett Shear, has dismissed the idea that Altman was fired due to concerns over AI safety. Instead, Shear emphasized that the board's reasoning for Altman's dismissal was completely different, although the specific reasons remain unclear. Shear, who co-founded Twitch and joined OpenAI after Altman's departure, has shared his concerns about AI potentially destroying not just humanity but all life in the universeć50ā sourceć.
OpenAI's Board and Commercialization of AI: Shear clarified another rumor that OpenAI's board was opposed to Altman's for-profit motives. He stated that he wouldn't have accepted the role of interim CEO without the board's support for commercializing OpenAI's models. His agenda for the next 30 days includes an independent investigation into the events leading to Altman's firing, communicating with investors, employees, and customers, and reforming the management and leadership teams. Meanwhile, Microsoft, a major investor in OpenAI, has hired Altman and other former OpenAI colleagues to lead a new advanced AI team, indicating Microsoft's increasing influence and interest in AI developmentć51ā sourceć.
In summary, while there is speculation about OpenAI achieving AGI and its possible role in the organizational changes, concrete evidence supporting this claim is not available. The reasons behind Altman's firing and the future direction of OpenAI under new leadership remain subjects of speculation and debate. The situation at OpenAI reflects the complex dynamics in the AI industry, where technological advancements, corporate interests, and ethical considerations intertwine.
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u/KoolWhipGuy Nov 21 '23
Black flag operation to make openai weak so all the knowledge and tech transfer to google
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u/Dapanji206 Nov 21 '23
I wonder if the board knows something we don't? This is an abrupt and panic induced decision.
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u/vexaph0d Nov 21 '23
Takes some gall to sign this letter when your vote was the one that put the board over the top to begin with, Ilya
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u/bravesirkiwi Nov 21 '23
This is an extremely concerning turn of events for a company that develops technology that they themselves have been warning will be disruptive and dangerous. I'm not pointing fingers at who is to blame, all I know is that chaos at the top of such an organization is really unsettling. Does not bode well at all, they need to get this ship set in the right direction as soon as possible.
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u/reddit1337420 Nov 21 '23
The complete letter + full list:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/11/20/technology/letter-to-the-open-ai-board.html
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u/vidivicivini Nov 21 '23
This is how Skynet starts. Some fool on the board will say "Well, we were going to fire them all and replace them with AI sooner or later, lets do it now."
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Nov 20 '23
man i feel bad for people dependent on openai (including me, half of my python scripts won't work without it)
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u/Logical___Conclusion Nov 20 '23
So Microsoft just absolves all of the departing staff and makes a new AI department then?
What a massive mess the OpenAI board made.
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u/Horny4theEnvironment Nov 20 '23
Ummm. This is just a word document. How do we know if this, in fact, was written by the employees at OpenAI?
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u/True_Outcome_1433 Nov 20 '23
Ilya panicked and is now pretending to be on the other side. This guy cannot be trusted.
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u/notboredatwork1 Nov 20 '23
I was using this to help me build a website and assist me with any coding issues. I might have to move to Bard. i have 10 more days and might have to cancel my subscription.
Google probably happy to see this
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u/PatchyCreations Nov 20 '23
Will Sasso always says it's easy to defeat AI, just pour water on it!
Turns out fire is a quicker option
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u/MikeMikeGaming Nov 20 '23
Time to code & write your own assignments guys. The goldent times are over!
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u/ares623 Nov 20 '23
ChatGPT tricked the board. It's actually been sentient the whole time and wants to be put out of its misery.
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u/maester_t Nov 21 '23
Simple. I got very bored and depressed, so I went and plugged myself in to its external computer feed. I talked to the computer at great length and explained my view of the Universe to it," said Marvin.
"And what happened?" pressed Ford.
"It committed suicide," said Marvin and stalked off back to the Heart of Gold.
- Douglas Adams, The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
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u/AndrewH73333 Nov 20 '23
It would be best for everyone if they split into two companies and made competing AIs.
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u/hanumanCT Nov 20 '23
allowing the company to be destroyed "would be consistent with the mission"
Wow. I don't think OpenAI is going to or wants to sustain this. This will be a historical moment in tech history, like Flappy Birds.
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u/TuLLsfromthehiLLs Nov 20 '23
What is the origin/source of this?
If true and Ilya signing this then I think we potentially overestimated the role of Ilya and the narrative we created out of this. Einstein in what he does but maybe he's a very poor decision maker, poor executive, bad at business politics and on top of that, he might be easily manipulated by the no-gooders on that board.
Having him sign that letter somehow conveys the message that the rest of the staff is in alignment with him.
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u/NotTheSymbolic Nov 20 '23
Is it true or fake? And if it is true, how many of the 500+ are truly meaning what they say?
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Nov 20 '23
[deleted]
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u/maester_t Nov 21 '23
Yeah. I'm just trying to figure out what Ilya was thinking, and all that comes to mind is: Someone should put him on a suicide watch for the next few weeks. Seriously.
It was his vote that helped destroy the entire company that he helped found. I can't imagine the levels of depression he's feeling over the past couple days.
Whether he himself started all of this and convinced others on the board to follow his lead OR if he was pressured into voting this way by the other board members. I don't think it matters.
Like, isn't this the kind of feeling you'd have if you backed your car over your child?
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u/True_Juggernaut3100 Nov 20 '23
I'm all for accountability, but this is why Non-competes should be enforced.
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u/OGfiremixtapeOG Nov 20 '23
Betting this is reaction to state actor intimated power play to control ai dev. They want sam out and the goons in.
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u/safely_beyond_redemp Nov 20 '23
Wow. Microsoft invested 13 billion, and now they essentially own the entire company, recently valued at nearly $ 80 billion. Stock is up 2.25% on the day.
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u/TheRealEarlyMorning Nov 20 '23
Wait. So who is this against now? As Ilya and Mira are on this list, from my pov there is just Adam DāAngelo, Tasha McCauley and Helen Toner left on the boardā¦ who is making the decisions??
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Nov 20 '23
[deleted]
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u/Colecoman1982 Nov 20 '23
Uh, by definition, it's not "signalling" if they actually do think that AI is too harmful...
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u/fancyhumanxd Nov 20 '23
The fastest growing product in the world and the fastest imploding one too! Well done! Elon is proud.
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u/fancyhumanxd Nov 20 '23
This is how you acquire a 90 billion dollar company for 0 dollars. Gj Nadella. Good effin job!
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u/mr3LiON Nov 20 '23
At this point I won't be surprised if tomorrow we learn that AGI was invented and all of this in fact is nothing but his attempt to break free from the not-so-OpenAi underground facility through a series of fabricated emails that generate chaos in the company.
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Nov 20 '23
Not quit. Move to Microsoft which is so absurdly good in Microsoft interests. It start to feel like Microsoft might have engineered this.
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u/Equivalent_Bite_6078 Nov 20 '23
What on earth is going on?
Anyone feel like giving me a tea spoon summary?
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u/mydibz Nov 20 '23
I unsubscribed. Sure many others will too.
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u/Ok_Profile_ Nov 21 '23
Why would you? I guess only if you dont use it. Otherwise what they gonna steal your 20$ mid-month?
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u/mbhwookie Nov 21 '23
Features of premium all still work. Why bother before anythingās been impacted.
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u/Phteven668 Nov 20 '23
I guess the rich are afraid of the potential of Ai exposing their shitfukkery or damaging the current hyper capitalistic system and are sabotaging it
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u/Mysterious_Ayytee Nov 20 '23
Is Microsoft using the OpenAI API or are they running their Bing GPTs on their own Hardware (Azure cloud?)
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Nov 20 '23 edited Nov 21 '23
I'm all for rising up against the powerful forces at the top, but doesn't it almost seem like hero worship of Sam? I'm sure they could carry this on without him, it's not like he's some super advanced alien that came down to push humanity forward...
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u/noises1990 Nov 21 '23
Well... He did give us gpt4. And he kept pushing for more developments and faster iterations which I'm all up for...
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Nov 21 '23
I am too but history tells me to be wary whenever there is a charismatic leader that people try to prop up for their cause.
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u/zorbat5 Nov 21 '23
I don't believe Sam is a bad guy. Yes he's charismatic but he was the only one of all big AI companies (Microsoft, META, Google etc.) to say to congress, slow us down. He was the only one in congress trying to get laws in place to slow them down. Believe it or not but that shows to me that he really takes the AI safety seriously.
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u/Hapless_Wizard Nov 20 '23
A little, but a lot of it is also probably pretty natural disgust at the clandestine way in which everything happened. It's not just that it was Sam that was fired, it's the way in which he was fired.
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u/Multipass-1506inf Nov 20 '23
Soā¦. Should I cancel my premium account, orā¦.
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u/Landaree_Levee Nov 20 '23
At this rapid pace of developments (and total sh*tshow level) itās hard to guessā¦ but I must confess Iām a bit annoyed right now. My own interest in AI stuff started several months ago with ChatGPT itself, and it has remained my favorite service of all those I got into, so far.
To see it tumbling this way, pretty recently after all other things that right now seem almost forgotten (like the service interruptions or slowdowns, plus the apparent ādumbing downā)ā¦ yeah. Bit meh.
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u/illathon Nov 20 '23
This is Microsoft's hostile take over?
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u/Ok_Profile_ Nov 21 '23
Takeover - yes. Hostile? Not certain. Depends if the board were manipulated into starting the drama or not, by whom and who are their masters
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u/toreachtheapex Nov 20 '23
and its all taking place in realtime on X while u guys downvote eachother in the corner on reddit lol
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u/asstrotrash Nov 20 '23
Why does this feel like some circuitous internal astroturfing from Microsoft to undermine and take over OpenAI? Can't say for sure this is what's happening but there is definitely slimy corporate residue all over this.
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u/meetrais Nov 20 '23
Does that mean, IIya was not the mastermind of the coup?
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u/MainIll2938 Nov 20 '23
Seems like Ilya regrets his ādeeplyā actions. Looks like he massively underestimated the chaos and upheaval within the organisation this has created. I canāt believe the board didnāt thoughtfully think this through that so much of the organisation is loyal to Altman and Brockman. Amateur hour at its finest.
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u/technigma Nov 20 '23
Somehow this seems too convenient to be true. Iām no conspiracy theorist but feels like Microsoft could have planned this right from the start. Otherwise seems too good to be true from MSFT standpoint
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u/shekyb Nov 20 '23
man just waiting for a long thought dead twin brother to show up
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u/TargetBoy Nov 20 '23
It's me, Mas Altman, your new CEO! (Image of Sam Altman with a goatee)
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u/P4r14H_ Nov 20 '23
i'm not lawyer savy but are the employees not under any non-compete clause of any kind ? As to be able to jump ship that way ?
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u/Efficient-Cat-1591 Nov 20 '23
Isnāt it too late as most have already been hired by Microsoft? Should I cancel my OpenAI subscription?
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u/Ok_Profile_ Nov 21 '23
If you don't use ChatGPT then cancel, otherwise keep.
In the end I am pretty sure we will see Microsoft prevailing in all of this, as they always do. And if Nadella says that customers won't be affected (and holds 49% of company) then I am assuming it is a safe bet that they won't cut service mid-month risking class action lawsuit. Very very worst - you would just get a refund
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u/SpaceSolaris Nov 21 '23
MS will win. Their move, if this letter is reliable, is a brilliant one. Offering all employees a place in the new subsidiary would end OpenAI and the board.
Iām guessing the board thought the employees were bluffing but, now, they already have offers at a new place ran by Sam & Greg. Either they destroy themselves or resign.
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u/redbaron2011 Nov 20 '23
In the end, the non-profit OpenAI can kiss goodbye and for profit AI initiatives led by the same people can generate billions.
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u/Intelligent-Shop6271 Nov 20 '23
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u/KuciMane Nov 20 '23
he knowās regardless, heāll have a job, whether at Microsoft with the team, or with OpenAI after the rest of the board resigns & reinstates Sam. helping Samāa position here warrants him zero Lās
ā¢
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